ICIM is a nonprofit medical association of physicians dedicated to exploring and teaching integrative treatments to help our patients. Our 61st meeting is coming up March 2-6, 2016 in Atlanta. This newsletter is designed to prepare attendees and continue discussions about the education we provide.

As 2015 comes to a close, ICIM would like to wish its members, partners and other industry professionals a safe and happy holiday season. As we reflect on the past year for the industry, we would like to provide the readers of the ICIM Newsbrief a look at the 10 most accessed articles from the year. Our regular publication will resume Tuesday, Jan. 5.

HealthcareDiveFrom Nov. 6: There are 68,000 billing codes under the new ICD-10 system, as opposed to a paltry 13,000 under the current ICD-9. The expansive diagnostic codes, intended to smooth billing processes and assist in population health and cost reduction across the healthcare delivery system, have providers across the board worried about integration. A recent survey by the American Health Information Management Association and the eHealth Initiatives found that 38 percent of providers think revenue will decrease in year following the switch from ICD-9, while only 6 percent think revenue will increase.READ MORE

From June 6: Energy medicine includes a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic tools that are becoming increasingly popular worldwide and that are steadily entering mainstream medicine. Matrix regeneration is an approach that is emerging from our increasing understandings of how various forms of energy are used by the human body to regulate living processes such as healing.READ MORE

Medical HypothesesThiamine deficiency is accepted as the cause of beriberi because of its action in the metabolism of
simple carbohydrates, mainly as the rate limiting co-factor for the dehydrogenases of pyruvate and alphaketoglutarate,
both being critical to the action of the citric acid cycle.READ MORE

The Times of IndiaFrom May 15: For all those who think homeopathy is just placebo, here is new research that debunks that and upholds the effectiveness of the branch of medicine. The study reveals that homeopathy medicine contains nano particles of the resource medicine even in its highest diluted form. This is a breakthrough and may open up vistas for advanced research in homeopathy.READ MORE

ICIMFrom April 3: The FDA has also scheduled public hearings on the safety and efficacy of homeopathic medications on extraordinarily short notice. Here is the link. The actual document was not published until March 27, 2015, and the date of the hearings is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m April 20 and 21. That is three weeks from the time of publication of the notice.READ MORE

Informa HealthcareFrom March 27: We have provided a critical assessment of research on the reduction of cholesterol levels by statin treatment to reduce cardiovascular disease. Our opinion is that although statins are effective at reducing cholesterol levels, they have failed to substantially improve cardiovascular outcomes. We have described the deceptive approach statin advocates have deployed to create the appearance that cholesterol reduction results in an impressive reduction in cardiovascular disease outcomes through their use of a statistical tool called relative risk reduction, a method which amplifies the trivial beneficial effects of statins.READ MORE

AmazonFrom Jan. 23: A fearless exposé of mainstream medicine's most revered dogma, "Malignant Medical Myths" is solidly based on trusted medical and nutritional books and journals. Americans spend $2 trillion per year on healthcare, about $7,000 each, yet it buys almost the poorest healthcare among developed countries, with 200,000 deaths per year from medical treatment. Find out why advice from authorities on screening tests, drugs, diet, exercise, alcohol, radiation, radon, and water fluoridation is often wrong and commercially motivated. See how clinical trials are slanted. Understand how "sickness" is created to sell treatments, and which government agencies support these shenanigans.READ MORE

From June 12: Protomyxzoa Rheumatica is a newly discovered infectious organism that causes chronic disease. Protomyxzoa was discovered by Fry Laboratories of Scottsdale, Arizona. Although they have published no scientific papers on the organism, they offer a polymerase chain reaction DNA test for the organism, and they have done substantial work on culturing, characterizing and sequencing the DNA of the organism. Unfortunately, all this work remains unpublished.READ MORE